Alive and Kicking
by Maristela
Summary: Yet another postSaturday fanfic. But I am planning to finish it, though! Focused mainly on JohnClaire relationship. Rated T. Work in progress.
1. Chapter One

"Alive and Kicking"  
  
Chapter One  
  
(Hope you'll like! The titled was inspired by "Alive and Kicking", that Simple Minds' song which I consider some kind of "answer" to "Don't you forget about me"... Sorry the possible English mistakes - a friend of mine has already checking it out - and read & review!!!)  
  
  
  
Monday - March 26th 1984  
  
John Bender hadn't slept very well that night, he had just thought about Claire. So, would she recognize him at school? What if she didn't care abouthim? John couldn't bear that kind of feeling, Claire became so much important to him in such little time. This was a very frightening feeling for him. He was used to not caring about anybody or anything, but the "Princess" had changed that so many ways. For a tough guy like him it was too much to handle.  
  
"Shit! What can I do about it?". He woke up from his bed, his heart beating faster than usual, his stomach seeming to have zillions of butterflies inside it. "Shit! Shit", he thought. He saw his own image in the mirror and soon noticed the diamond earring in his left ear. His profoundly dark eyes narrowed a bit, full of concern.  
  
"Oh God, what can I do? I'm lost, I don't know how to deal with this... I am supposed to be a tough guy, I *must* be a tough guy, I *have* to survive the pain... But it's hard to realize that. If Claire won't give a shit for me today, my heart is going to be broken!", he thought, freezing at this realization.   
  
John hardly ate any breakfast and uttered few words to his usually void as ever mother before going to school.   
  
"Thank God that she didn't notice the earring. She could think that I had stolen it, and told to dad and make things even worse..." He was walking to the school in a very inattentive way which was a very uncommon thing for him, who always looked for a person to tease, or a nasty thing to do.  
  
His mind was divided in two parts: one of them was claiming to he shouldn't show his inner feelings to Claire and his new friends Brian, Andy and Allison. And the other one - which was directly connected to his heart - was telling to him to live these new emotions with intensity. A new life was coming, a good one... but John was afraid. He didn't want to be hurt anymore.  
  
"Fucking Saturday...", he thought, "I don't want to change my fucking life, I don't want to recognize my own faults, I don't want to be acquainted with Brain, Sporto and Basket Case, and I don't want to fall in love with Claire!" His thoughts were suddenly interrupted, when he heard a friendly voice behind him:  
  
"Bender! Nice to see you, dude!" Brian Johnson gave John a bear hug. He was smiling and wasn't afraid of Bender's reaction to him. He knew they were friends, real friends, the great lesson they took from the last Saturday. John flinched for a brief moment, but Brian was so nice to that John couldn't help but give his friend a big smile: "Dork! I was missing you...", he smirked, "Let's drink some vegetable soup together? I want to get high!" Brian laughed and said: "Well, who knows? Today is going to be a great day... My mom didn't take me to school because my sister is sick, so I am totally FREE. Isn't that great? John?" John's thoughts were quite far from there, and Brian noticed: "You're afraid, aren't you? I mean, if Claire doesn't want to talk to you..."  
  
The intense gaze of Bender's was full of irony: "You're a very bad mind reader, dork! Better go to Shop class and destroy some porcelaine giraffe, or something... I don't care about Claire at all"   
  
"Yeah, I know...", Brian answered with a hint of sarcasm. The two of them were two blocks away from Shermer High, when an old red Volkswagen parked near them and suddenly Andrew Clarke and Allison Reynolds got out of it. Andy and Allison seemed very happy and when they noticed John and Brian, they smiled frankly.   
  
John seemed quite surprised and asked to them: "What the hell are you two doing together?"  
  
Andy and Allison stared at each other meaningfully. Andy spoke out in a very gentle way:   
  
"Well, I lost the fucking wrestling match, but I won a very sweet weekend, courtesy of Allison, to say the least". Allison only nodded, with a sweet smile. She and Andy were holding hands.   
  
"Are you hanging out?", Brian asked happily. "So fast, huh?", he grinned.   
  
"Yeah, even a basket case could be as fast as a race horse sometimes", Allison answered and all of them giggled, except John. He thought: "Sporto and Allison are hanging out. God, how I want to do the same with Claire... NO!"   
  
"Bender? What's up?" - Andy's question woke John up from his confusing thoughts. "Oh, sorry Sporto, but I was planning to break some rule to make Vernon's Monday unforgettable", he tried to grin devilishly.   
  
Allison, always the observer, said: "I see... Are you planning to do this with a certain red-haired girl?"  
  
John answered fast: "Hell, no!", his dark eyes plenty of confusion andself-defense.  
  
"Easy, Bender, easy"... Brian said, and look meaningfully to Andy and Allison." We don't know, maybe the Breakfast Club is going to reunite today..."  
  
The quartet was already in the school's hallway, attracting a lot of disbelieving stares from people, Claire Standish among them.  
  
"Yuck, Claire, what's Andy supposed to do with those losers?", asked Camilla Taylor, prom-queen wannabe. Claire wasn't able to answer, because she was staring directly at John Bender, mesmerized with his looks, his gaze , his dark longish hair, his body...  
  
  
  
She said: "Cam, I... I don't know..."  
  
"That John Bender is awfully obnoxius... Why is Andy with him and those other weirdos?"  
  
Claire was still quiet. John and the others hadn't noticed her yet. Her heart was in pure flame, beating fastly and wildly.  
  
The only thing that she had thought of during the entire weekend was John Bender. He was completely different thing to see in real life. He had devastated her self-defense with only that intense stare. He had told her nasty things, made her cry but nevertheless was very sweet and compassionate as well.  
  
She was totally sure about his so hidden weakness, and this only made him even more interesting. He was a charade, a charade which Claire wanted to resolve. But she was afraid. What she could do to confront her disgusting peers from in-crowd? She wasn't sure about her own strength to fight against them... But she wanted deseperately to deal with John, and to talk to Brian, Allison and Andy.  
  
The five of them *did* achieve some level of intimacy that Claire had never experienced before. And those dark eyes...   
  
"Claire! Where are you going ?", Camilla Taylor asked in desbelief.   
  
The pretty redhead had run into her mates from TBC. John was the first who realizes that Claire was approaching the group. Like a secret code, the hazel dark eyes met and glue their stare into Claire's light brown eyes. It was something magical, something that only John and Claire could feel at that moment. 


	2. Chapter Two

"Alive and Kicking"   
  
PG-13, maybe R   
  
Chapter Two   
  
By Stellium  
  
(People, I am re-publishing Chapter Two, with English mistakes fixed. The English has improved a lot! Thanks for Fandango and Cloudburst2000 for being so nice! And read & review! I want to know your ideas about the plot's development, okay?)  
  
"Well, I see that you're wearing the earring", Claire said gently, breaking the silence between her and John.  
  
John grinned: "It was so beautiful that I couldn't help it, Princess".   
  
They smiled meaningfully. Seemed that the whole world could be revolving around them at that moment.   
  
Brian Johnson said, slightly aware of that special feeling:   
  
"Hey Claire, seems that Breakfast Club is alive and well..."  
  
The redhead looked to the "Brain" and responded:   
  
"I would never forgive myself if I was the one to break up this reunion".   
  
At this time, the five friends were already talking on the middle of school's hallway. The bell rang and Allison asked:   
  
"Well, what class are you going for?"   
  
"Shop. SHIT!", Brian responded and everybody giggled.  
  
"Well, Bri, I have some great news for you. I have Shop class too", Andy said, "and if some jerk teases you, I'll be ready with my muscles".  
  
"Please, don't use them so much, Andy... I need your energy for other activities, remember?", Allison said in a very seductive way.   
  
"Oh, please, Allison, we're supposed to be discreet, dear...", Andy responded mockingly.  
  
"You're constantly suprising me, you nasty fellows..." Well Andy, let's go? I am longing to destroy some porcellaine giraffe..." Brian looked to John and smiled.  
  
"See you guys at lunch time, okay?", John said.   
  
"OK... let's go, Brian..."   
  
Andy and Brian ran into their Shop class. Allison found herself alone with John and Claire, both needing a private conversation.  
  
Smirking, Allison asked: "Chemistry, anyone?"   
  
"Claire and I already have enough, thank you" he grinned with with his trademark sarcasm. Claire blushed a little. Allison nodded and said, "Okay... I'm alone on this one... See ya later guys"  
  
John and Claire watched Allison going to the Chemistry class. John looked to Claire:   
  
"Princess, we need to talk", he said surprisingly serious.   
  
"Yes, we definetely need to talk", she agreed.  
  
"Are you in a ditching class mood, perhaps?", he smirked.   
  
"Yeah, I can't stand Math class anyway"   
  
"Neither do I, whatever my next class is supposed to be"  
  
Claire smiled, when behind them a very sharp voice rang out...   
  
"Claire! What are you doing with that criminal, John Bender?"   
  
Camilla Taylor was annoyed. Her eyes were full of disgust   
  
John felt his heart suddenly beating faster. Claire was so conceited, she had too much social awareness and Camilla Taylor was an `"in-crowd" person. Would Claire confront her and stay with him? He was terribly afraid, didn't have the strength to talk and push that Camilla person away from them.   
  
"Cam, don't worry about me. It's all OK. John is my friend"   
  
"Friend? But..." Camilla Taylor stopped talking, surprised. She had noticed that well-known diamond earring at John's left ear.   
  
"Claire... D-did he steal your diamond earring?"   
  
Claire became very worried, she didn't want everybody out there to know about this earring stuff. She sighed, and John ,coming to her defense, said:   
  
"Listen, your little annoying bitch, it's none of your fucking business, alright?", good old John Bender uttered, looking harshly at Camilla.   
  
"Cam", a strained Claire said, "John did not steal anything. I gave him the earring as a present". Claire looked firmly to Camilla  
  
"Oh. My. God", Cam responded, "you've become totally nuts, Claire. That Saturday detention really wasn't a good thing for you."   
  
"What what's done, it's done, Cam... So, could you leave us alone, please? Let's go, John..."   
  
Claire pulled John at her side and they got out of the school's building, leaving an openmouthed Camilla Taylor totally dumbfounded.   
  
"Why are you doing this, Claire?", John asked, "she could ruin your well earned reputation..."   
  
"Fuck her...", Claire said , "she's not my friend at all... All she wants is to win some Prom-Queen contest, and being acquainted with me could be a very useful thing to her."  
  
"Hey, strange values, they're ones from your clique, aren't they  
  
"I don't care...In fact, it's a waste of time."   
  
Claire led John to a park near Shermer High. They sat on a bench, which was surrounded by blossoming flowers, a sign of the approaching Spring. The two of them became quiet for a few moments, just enjoying each other's company, and not knowing how to deal with all the emotions in that strong bond between them .  
  
"Claire", John said in a soft voice, " I... I'd like to thank you for the earring", he said looking directly to her, "... it was so nice... You know, I am not used to getting nice gifts..."  
  
Claire took his hands in hers, and responded, "John, you deserve it... I gave you the earring because you quite surprised me with your strength, your generosity..."   
  
"Generosity?", he asked, "God, I even don't know what generosity is..."   
  
She smiled and caressed his dark hair:  
  
"Yes, you are a very generous person. You saved us from Vernon, remember? Me, Brian, Allison and Andy could be really fucked if you hadn't taken the responsability for us.."   
  
"Yeah", he smiled, stroking her bright red hair, "You know, responsablity isn't a word I'm very used to hearing when mentioning myself..."   
  
"You're awesome, John", Claire said, grinning , her light brown eyes shining.  
  
"You too, Claire..." he was caressing her chin.   
  
"Thanks, John, but ---", she was interrupted with John's mouth covering hers.  
  
Electricity had arrived for them as John slid his tongue into her mouth passionately, his dark hair falling into his face, Claire's arms wrapped John's body. That kiss was much different from that one on Saturday. It was sweet as well, but in addition contained lust and attraction, that John and Claire never experienced before.   
  
After breaking the kiss, Claire smiled and said, "John... you're a great kisser, did you know that?"  
  
He giggled: "Well, I am very glad for that... I would be worried if my kiss wasn't better than that damn sushi..."  
  
"Tell me about it", Claire said, and leaned in for one more kiss.  
  
John and Claire were back to the school minutes later, in time to attend the second class and meet their friends. The rest of that day passed very quickly, and the Breakfast Club members were quite surprised at not being harrassed by their "ex-cliques". They had lunch together, and some fun.   
  
Brian was telling stupid jokes, which was a very uncommon thing for him. Andy and Allison, already officially dating, were planning to going to the movies later. The Breakfast Club seemed alive and well, as Brian had said.  
  
John and Claire kissed a lot, yet not sure if they are going to date officially, but in fact it didn't matter. They were as happy as they could be.  
  
After the classes, John and Claire met again at school's hallway. John kissed Claire and said, "Well, hope that will last at least till tomorrow..."   
  
"You fool, of course it will!" she giggled and fixed her gaze on those dark eyes of John's.   
  
"Yeah... I like you a lot, Princess", John said, softly.   
  
"I like you too John."   
  
They kissed again, Claire broke the kiss and walked to her father's car, while John started to walk back home.   
  
John was happy, very happy. His early fears were gone. Claire liked him, and that was the only thing that really mattered. He entered his house, which was quiet. John took a shower, and went to his bed. He wanted to sleep and dream of his Princess.   
  
But he couldn't. John Bender Sr. had arrived, furious. Bender Sr. smelled of alchohol and soon started to yell at his wife:   
  
"You fat pig! How many times I told you that I don't eat fried tomatoes? I threw my lunch out, your bitch! I'm starving!"   
  
"Don't ever call me bitch, you stupid bastard!", Louise Bender shouted back to her disgruntled husband.   
  
Hearing all that shit , John sighed. "Welcome to the Bender Hellhouse... Fasten your seat belts and have a dreadful trip!", he thought. He tried to cover his head with the pillows to avoid the awful noises that came from the kitchen.  
  
But John Bender Sr. was furious this evening. After beating his wife, he went to his son's bedroom.   
  
John was awakened in a brutal way by his drunken father.  
  
"Wake up, you useless piece of shit!", Bender Sr. said.   
  
John normally wouldn't react, but this time he couldn't bear this violence anymore.   
  
"Dad, leave me alone!", he shouted, trying to punch his father. But Bender Sr. was as physically strong as his son. He gazed his son with intensity and suddenly noticed that diamond earring in John's left ear.  
  
"You son of a bitch, you've stolen that earring!"   
  
John's eyes widened with fear, "No, dad! It was a gift!"  
  
"Gift? Who would give a gift like this to a god damned punk like you?", Bender Sr. became more frightening, yelling and cursing furiously.   
  
"Dad, a friend of mine gave me this earring..."   
  
"I don't believe you... Give me the earring right now!", Bender Sr said with anger.  
  
"No!", John yelled, "Your fucking asshole! Leave me alone! This earring means more to me that you do!" ,John yelled, his heart almost exploding.  
  
"You hopless bastard! I don't care what you think about me!", Bender Sr smacked John and beat him madly.  
  
John fell onto the floor. His father took the earring from him ,kicked John in the stomach and slapped his face.  
  
"You are a fucking thief!", John Sr. Said and left the bedroom, slamming the door behind him.   
  
John was lying in the floor, and felt the blood sliding from his left earlobe. Painful tears were dripping down his face.  
  
Claire was wrong, he was not generous.   
  
He was a big coward 


	3. Chapter Three

"Alive and Kicking"  
  
PG-13, maybe R  
  
Chapter Three  
  
Note: This Chapter is kind of reflective, I think... I want to develop some background to our TBC heros (at least for John and Claire...) before the writer's block arrives, hehehehe... If you'll find English mistakes, please, let me know...  
  
Dinner at the elegant Standishs' house was already served. Claire was sitting opposite to her parents, just observing them, all of them eating in complete silence. Her father, James Standish, was a prominent attorney in town. He was a self-made man, and proud of it. James came from the "poor side of town", but almost had forgotten his roots. Claire's grandparents were humble enough for James but his marriage to Beatrice Clermont, a rich beauty from Shermer's "in-crowd" just kept James even more distant from his parents. Claire almost didn't have any contact with them, which had always seemed rather strange to her.  
  
Her mother's voice interrupted her thoughts:  
  
"Darling! You aren't eating... You don't need to lose weight at all...", Beatrice said in her usual pretentious way.  
  
Claire sighed, and responded quietly, "Mom, I'm just not hungry today, that's all..."  
  
"You're more quiet that usual, dear", James commented without staring at his daughter.  
  
Claire was going to talk, but her mother was faster:  
  
"James, I think that you have to be blamed... You have been so condescending to Claire... I only hope that she won't return to that awful Saturday detention..."  
  
"Thanks, Bea, for your kind judgement..." James said ironically.  
  
Claire widened her eyes:  
  
"Hey mom, this detention wasn't because of dad... It was my problem, my fault..."  
  
"Darling, don't be silly...", James told, "Shopping is not a problem..."  
  
"Of course it is, James!", Beatrice answered back, "Claire needs to keep her image intact! She can't be a disciplinal case! Our family doesn't tolerate things like this!"  
  
"But we know that she'll be the Prom Queen anyway, Bea! As you were!"  
  
"Enough about me!", Claire yelled, and ran to her bedroom, in tears, used to her parent's idiotic arguing.  
  
"They want me to be like my mother and I won't!", Claire was telling to herself, "I want to be more than that!". She was in tears, lying in her bed.  
  
She looked around her bedroom. It was lovely: the expensive wallpaper had a dellicate flower-pattern, in various shades of pink. The furniture was in light shades, which were a perfect contrast to the wall. It was a "perfect bedroom", but Claire thought that something was missing. Needless to say, John's image came to her mind instantly. She sighed, remembering his kiss, his touch, his gaze... John * did * do something to her... And it was good.  
  
Suddenly, the telephone rang. Claire didn't want to talk to anybody, but soon Beatrice came into the bedroom and told her: "Camilla Taylor wants to talk to you, honey..."  
  
"Oh, holy shit..."  
  
"...And we must have a conversation as soon as possible, because your behaviour has been quite inconvenient" – Beatrice left the room abruptly.  
  
Claire picked the phone up , and Camilla just started to talk:  
  
"Claire! I'm very concerned about you... Today you acted so bitchy to all of us! Jenna Fainberg and Terry Rhodes want to seriously talk with you, and..."  
  
"Cam, could you stop, please? Are you able to understand that I have the right to choose the people I hang out with?"  
  
"Yes...", Camilla hesitated, "but... John Bender?"  
  
"What's the matter, Cam? John is a friend, I told you." Claire said nervously:  
  
"He's a criminal, for God's sake! Claire, I can't understand why you gave him your earring... In fact, even if you had given the earring to that cute Brad Dawson I wouldn't approve.. It's a damn diamond earring!"  
  
"Cam..." – Claire whispered in desbelief , "That's my earring, and I can do anything I want with it..."  
  
Camilla was talking fast:  
  
"And everybody seems to be nuts at the school! You and that John Bender, Andrew Clark hanging out with that weird girl, all of you laughing with that geek Johnson...", Cam sighed, " It's just, you know, sick!"  
  
"No, it's not sick. It's a friendship, Cam... a true friendship..."  
  
"True friendship? Look, Claire, I bet one dollar that tomorrow that Bender guy won't even give a shit about you... and when that happens, I'm gonna laugh!"  
  
Claire's patience ended, "Listen, Cam... Let's talk tomorrow, okay? I think we better sleep now, because I honestly can't bear this conversation anymore! Bye!", she said and hung up the phone.  
  
Claire lay in her bed, praying that her mother doesn't came back and talking just to annoy her. In minutes, Claire was sleeping.  
  
It was cold at John Bender's bedroom. He was still crying, a silent cry, a painful cry..   
  
"Oh God, what the hell did dad do with Claire's earring?.  
  
Hesitantly, John came to the kitchen. Louise Bender was still there, quietly cooking something.  
  
"M-mom?"  
  
"Yeah, Johnny?", Louise asked, without looking to her son.  
  
"W-where's Dad?"  
  
"He went to Clyde's... Maybe drinking a ton of beers... again!"  
  
John sighed. He said:  
  
"I am going for a walk", he blurted. Louise only nodded.  
  
"Come back soon, Johnny"  
  
John kissed her briefly in the cheek and left the house. His left earlobe was inflamed, and hurting a lot. But nothing more than his heart. He wanted to change his life and felt that Claire would be the person to help him do this.  
  
But Claire's life were so different from his. John had some kind of social consciouness. He knew that he and Claire would have lots of problems in developing their relationship. It wasn't just a clique problem. It was a social class problem as well... But John was falling for Claire...  
  
"Shit, I've become some fucking philosopher...Just because of the Princess...And how can I explain to her about the missing earring? I don't wanna to tell her what really happened... I won't show my weakeness to the world... even to Claire. How can I deal with her and my fucking dad at the same time?"  
  
It was incredible, John didn't hate his father. John knew that Bender Sr. had a problem, a serious problem. His mind could still retrieved some really good moments of Bender Family. But they were confined in some lost moment in the past...  
  
"Hey, Bender how's things?" Jake Collins, a member of the "Chain Gang" of John's, approached.  
  
John immediatly recompose himself to "toughest guy in the world" mode and responded:  
  
"Hey, dude! I was lookin' for you anyway... Want a joint, y'know..."  
  
"Oh yeah, I've got some brand new..."  
  
John needed to forget his problems for a while...  
  
"Tomorrow will be another day...", he thought, just wanting to melt and disappear.  
  
(What do you think is gonna happen? Let me know! And r'n'r, for God's sake) 


	4. Special Announcement

Well, it was a long time ago.

In 2003, I started to write this TBC fic called "Alive and Kicking" but soon I underwent a surgery and I had to interrupt the writing.

Everything is absolutely fine concerning my health, thank you very much. But I never returned to resume "Alive and Kicking" and it has been one of various TBC fics that remained unfinished. But this week Rhino has resumed the fab fic called "Monday Morning at Shermer High" after almost 3 years and I have become very ashamed. I mean, "Alive and Kicking" is not the best TBC fic, but had its loyal readers and I feel that I have to resume it.

So I would like to announce that "Alive and Kicking" is going to be update very soon. But, I need some help from you. Since I am not a native English speaker, I am looking for a beta reader who would prevent me to offer a bad written story. If some of you are interested, please let me know :)

Thanks,

Maristela.


End file.
